cruise-climb

English

Alternative forms

• cruise climb

Verb

cruise-climb (third-person singular simple present cruise-climbs, present participle cruise-climbing, simple past and past participle cruise-climbed)

1. (aviation, usually intransitive, of an aircraft) To slowly but continuously climb during cruise flight as the aircraft's weight decreases due to fuel burnoff (done because flight at higher altitudes is more efficient but requires a lighter aircraft).

   For a transatlantic crossing, the Concorde would be assigned a ~15,000-foot block of altitude; it started out at flight level 450 and gradually cruise-climbed up to between FL570 and FL600 over the mid-Atlantic before beginning to descend.

Coordinate terms

• step climb

Noun

cruise-climb (plural cruise-climbs)

1. (aviation) An instance of cruise-climbing.

   A cruise-climb is more efficient than the standard step climb, but is rarely used since it's much harder for ATC to manage.